But he says the report does offer strategies to help marine environments adapt to the projected impacts of climate change.

The report card will be a valuable tool for scientists, policy makers and anyone with an interest or investment in Australia's marine systems, says Hobday.

"It's like a mini-marine IPCC report for Australia ... it's all you need to know about the impact climate change is having on Australia's marine environment in one place."

Hobday says the report, which took over a year to prepare, demonstrates that climate change is already having an impact.

The temperature is going to rise by 2°C to 4°C even if greenhouse gas emissions were regulated from today, he says.

"Over the next 30 years the kind of changes we're expecting to see are already locked in now because of the amount of greenhouse gases we've put into the atmosphere," says Hobday. "Nothing we do today can change that."

He says mitigating greenhouse gases will only slow down, or possibly reverse, the effects of climate change in the long term - between 30 and 70 years.

More to be done

He says, climate change impacts on the marine environment and the projections are rated on a confidence scale, which is based on current literature and the consensus of leading scientists in the field.

Hobday hopes the report's adaptation strategies will be used in the short-term while more drastic longer term solutions are negotiated.

"These strategies [are what] scientists feel will help these marine systems adapt to climate change [in the short term]."

He admits there will need to be more studies undertaken to assess the efficacy of these adaptations before they are reproduced on a large scale.

Hobday says the report is presented in various formats to ensure the information is accessible to everyone.

"The first level of information is a very simple summary that we hope is accessible to everyone from students to politicians," he says. More detailed technical reports are aimed at scientists.

Hobday hopes the report, which will be reviewed every two years, will convince everyone that the effects of climate change are already happening and that "we need immediate action on today".